2017 A Lyga

The 2017 A Lyga was the 28th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season began on 3 March 2017 and ended on 19 November 2017.^[1]

A Lyga

Season	2017
Champions	Sūduva
Champions League	Sūduva
Europa League	Žalgiris Trakai Stumbras
Matches played	127
Goals scored	339 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Darvydas Šernas (18 goals)
Biggest home win	Žalgiris 5–0 Utenis (2 August 2017) Žalgiris 5–0 Jonava (16 August 2017) Sūduva 5–0 Kauno Žalgiris (11 October 2017)
Biggest away win	Jonava 0–5 Sūduva (17 October 2017)
Highest scoring	Jonava 5–2 Kauno Žalgiris (1 April 2017) Žalgiris 5–2 Utenis (15 November 2017)
Longest winning run	11 games Sūduva
Longest unbeaten run	13 games Sūduva
Longest winless run	13 games Kauno Žalgiris
Longest losing run	6 games Kauno Žalgiris
Highest attendance	4,489 Sūduva v Žalgiris (19 November 2017)
Lowest attendance	70 Kauno Žalgiris v Sūduva (14 October 2017) Stumbras v Utenis (22 October 2017)
Total attendance	60,211
Average attendance	478
← 2016 2018 → All statistics correct as of 19 November 2017.

All eight teams from the previous season remained and competed in the league, while Žalgiris Vilnius began the season as defending champions having won fourth consecutive league title last year.

Sūduva Marijampolė won the championship for the first time in their 96-year history, becoming the eighth club to win the league since its creation in 1991.

Teams

A total of eight teams should have contested the league, including six sides from the previous season, one promoted from the 2016 LFF I Lyga and the winners of the 2016 A Lyga Relegation play-offs.^[2]

Utenis managed to withstand against I Lyga runners-up Palanga in the play-offs and for the 3rd consecutive season continued to play in the A Lyga.^[3]

2015 LFF I Lyga champions FK Lietava changed they name to FK Jonava after received permission from Lithuanian Football Federation.^[3][4]

Kauno Žalgiris were relegated at the end of 2016 season and replaced by 2016 LFF I Lyga champions Šilas. It was going to be a debut in the top tier for Kazlų Rūda team.^[3][5]

Before the beginning of the season, newcomers Šilas were accused of match-fixing during a 2017 Virsligas Winter Cup match with FS METTA.^[6][7] Soon after Lithuanian Football Federation started an investigation to determine validity of these claims.^[8] At the time all club trainings and friendly matches were revoked.^[9][10][11] On 24 February, club chairman Audrius Raškauskas announced, that players received a permission to look for the new clubs while Šilas most probably will withdraw from the league into lower divisions of Lithuanian football.^[12]

On 24 February 2017 Lithuanian Football Federation announced that Šilas withdrew from the league and will be replaced by last year participants Kauno Žalgiris, who were only non-participating team, which received a valid license for A Lyga.^[13]

Clubs and locations

Atlantas

Jonava

Kaunas

Sūduva

Utenis

Vilnius

Kaunas teams
Stumbras
Kauno Žalgiris

Vilnius teams
Žalgiris
Trakai

Locations of the 2017 A Lyga teams

The following teams were competing in the 2017 championship:

Club	Location	Stadium	Turf	Capacity	2016 position
Atlantas	Klaipėda	Central Stadium of Klaipėda	Natural	4,428	4th
		Klaipėda Artificial Football Pitch	Artificial	1,000
Jonava	Jonava	Central Stadium of Jonava	Natural	1,008	6th
		Jonava Artificial Football Pitch	Artificial	558
Kauno Žalgiris	Kaunas	Darius and Girėnas Stadium	Natural	9,180	8th
		NFA Stadium	Artificial	500
Stumbras	Kaunas	Darius and Girėnas Stadium	Natural	9,180	5th
		NFA Stadium	Artificial	500
Sūduva	Marijampolė	ARVI Football Arena	Natural	6,250	3rd
		ARVI Football Indoor Arena	Artificial	2,660
Trakai	Vilnius	LFF Stadium	Artificial	5,067	2nd
		Sportima Arena	Artificial	3,157
Utenis	Utena	Utenis Stadium	Natural	3,073	7th
	Visaginas[note 1]	Visaginas Artificial Football Pitch	Artificial	212
Žalgiris	Vilnius	LFF Stadium	Artificial	5,067	1st
		Sportima Arena	Artificial	3,157

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Atlantas	Igoris Pankratjevas	Andrius Bartkus	Puma[14]	—
Jonava	Mindaugas Čepas	Tadas Eliošius	Adidas[15]	—
Kauno Žalgiris	Johnny McKinstry	Ignas Dedura	Hummel[16]	BC Žalgiris
Stumbras	Mariano Barreto	Klaidas Janonis[17]	Hummel	Ibumetin
Sūduva	Vladimir Cheburin	Algis Jankauskas[18]	Joma	Sumeda
Trakai	Oleg Vasilenko	Deividas Česnauskis	Nike	Ecoil
Utenis	David Campaña	Aurimas Tručinskas[19][note 2] Guille Smitarello[20]	Adidas	Baltijos polistirenas
Žalgiris	Aleksandr Brazevich (interim)	Egidijus Vaitkūnas	Nike	TOP Sport

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Kauno Žalgiris	Laimis Bičkauskas	Resigned	26 October 2016[21]	Pre-season	Vitalijus Stankevičius	3 January 2017[22]
Jonava	Robertas Poškus	Sacked	14 December 2016[23]		Donatas Vencevičius	14 December 2016[24]
Trakai	Serhiy Kovalets	End of contract	16 December 2016[25]		Oleg Vasilenko	19 January 2017[26]
Utenis	Oleh Boychyshyn	End of caretaker spell	9 January 2017[27]		Zvezdan Milošević	9 January 2017[27]
	Zvezdan Milošević	Sacked	26 April 2017[28]	5th	Oleh Boychyshyn (caretaker)	26 April 2017[28]
Kauno Žalgiris	Vitalijus Stankevičius	Mutual consent	2 May 2017[29]	8th	Laimis Bičkauskas (caretaker)	2 May 2017[29]
Utenis	Oleh Boychyshyn	End of caretaker spell	15 May 2017[30]	5th	David Campaña	15 May 2017[30]
Atlantas	Konstantin Sarsania	Signed by Zenit Saint Petersburg	27 May 2017[31]	4th	Sergej Savchenkov (caretaker) Rimantas Žvingilas (caretaker)	28 May 2017[32][33]
	Rimantas Žvingilas Sergej Savchenkov	End of caretaker spell	21 July 2017[34]	4th	Igoris Pankratjevas	23 July 2017[35]
Kauno Žalgiris	Laimis Bičkauskas	End of caretaker spell	21 July 2017[36]	8th	Johnny McKinstry	21 July 2017[36]
Jonava	Donatas Vencevičius	Sacked	1 August 2017[37]	6th	Mindaugas Čepas	2 August 2017[38]
Žalgiris	Valdas Dambrauskas	Resigned	23 October 2017[39]	2nd	Aleksandr Brazevich (interim)	24 October 2017[40]

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sūduva	28	17	8	3	65	28	+37	59	Qualification to Championship round
2	Žalgiris	28	17	7	4	51	22	+29	58
3	Trakai	28	15	9	4	45	22	+23	54
4	Atlantas	28	8	9	11	33	33	0	33
5	Utenis	28	8	8	12	24	41	−17	32
6	Jonava	28	8	7	13	29	45	−16	31
7	Stumbras[a] (O)	28	4	10	14	23	42	−19	22	Europa League first qualifying round and relegation play-offs
8	Kauno Žalgiris	28	3	6	19	19	56	−37	15	Relegation to I Lyga cancelled

Source: A Lyga (in Lithuanian), UEFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Matches won.^[41]
(O) Play-off winners
Notes:

1. Stumbras qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2017 Lithuanian Football Cup.

Results

First half of season Home \ Away ATL JON KŽA STU SŪD TRA UTE ŽAL Atlantas — 0–1 3–1 4–1 1–1 1–1 2–2 1–2 Jonava 0–2 — 5–2 1–2 1–4 0–0 1–0 0–2 Kauno Žalgiris 0–1 1–3 — 0–0 0–2 1–1 0–1 2–0 Stumbras 1–1 1–0 3–0 — 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–3 Sūduva 0–0 3–3 3–1 2–0 — 1–1 2–1 0–0 Trakai 4–1 1–0 4–1 1–0 2–0 — 1–0 0–1 Utenis 0–3 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–4 1–0 — 0–4 Žalgiris 1–0 2–1 1–0 4–1 3–1 1–1 0–1 — Source: A Lyga (in Lithuanian) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away ATL JON KŽA STU SŪD TRA UTE ŽAL Atlantas — 0–1 1–1 3–2 1–2 0–1 0–1 1–1 Jonava 2–1 — 2–1 1–1 0–5 1–3 1–3 1–2 Kauno Žalgiris 0–1 1–0 — 0–2 1–5 1–2 1–1 1–1 Stumbras 0–3 0–0 0–1 — 1–3 0–0 0–3 1–1 Sūduva 1–1 1–1 5–0 4–2 — 5–1 2–0 3–0 Trakai 2–0 0–0 5–1 1–0 2–3 — 3–0 2–2 Utenis 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–4 — 1–2 Žalgiris 3–0 5–0 3–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 5–0 — Source: A Lyga (in Lithuanian) Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship round

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sūduva (C)	33	21	8	4	73	31	+42	71	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Žalgiris	33	20	7	6	62	31	+31	67	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Trakai	33	18	10	5	53	27	+26	64	Qualification for the Europa League preliminary round
4	Jonava	33	10	8	15	40	53	−13	38
5	Atlantas	33	8	12	13	39	43	−4	36
6	Utenis	33	8	9	16	30	56	−26	33

Source: A Lyga (in Lithuanian), UEFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head matches won; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Matches won.^[42]
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	ATL	JON	SŪD	TRA	UTE	ŽAL
Atlantas	—	—	—	—	2–2	0–3
Jonava	2–2	—	—	—	3–0	—
Sūduva	1–0	2–1	—	—	—	3–0
Trakai	2–2	2–1	1–0	—	—	—
Utenis	—	—	1–2	1–3	—	—
Žalgiris	—	2–4	—	1–0	5–2	—

Source: A Lyga (in Lithuanian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

The 7th placed team faced the runners-up of the 2017 LFF I Lyga for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches earned entry into the 2018 A Lyga.

First leg

28 October 2017 (2017-10-28)

18:00 EEST (UTC+3)

Banga	1–2	Stumbras
Krušnauskas 11' (pen.)	Report	Armanavičius 4' Almeida 67'

Gargždai Stadium, Gargždai, Lithuania

Attendance: 600

Referee: Edmundas Gaigalas

Second leg

4 November 2017 (2017-11-04)

13:00 EET (UTC+2)

Stumbras	3–0	Banga
Villela 39', 73' Barauskas 50'	Report

NFA Stadium, Kaunas, Lithuania

Attendance: 200

Referee: Robertas Valikonis

Stumbras won 5–1 on aggregate.

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

	Leader – Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
	Qualification to Europa League preliminary qualifying round
	Qualification to relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2018 I Lyga

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
Sūduva	4	1	3	4	2	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Žalgiris	1	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
Trakai	2	2	4	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Jonava	3	6	6	3	4	6	6	6	7	6	7	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	4	4	4	4
Atlantas	7	5	2	2	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5
Utenis	5	3	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6
Stumbras	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	6	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	7	7	7
Kauno Žalgiris	5	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Updated to games played on 15 November 2017

Season statistics

Top scorers Rank Pos. Player Club Goals[43] Minutes played Average minutes per goal 1 FW Darvydas Šernas Žalgiris 18 2246 125 2 FW Karolis Laukžemis Sūduva 14 2139 153 3 FW Elivelto Žalgiris 12 2437 204 4 FW Andrei Panyukov Atlantas 11 1113 102 5 FW Maksim Maksimov Trakai 10 1350 135 DF Semir Kerla Sūduva 1402 141 7 FW Maksym Marusych Jonava 8 2451 307 MF Oscar Dorley Trakai 2516 315 9 FW Diniyar Bilyaletdinov Trakai 7 805 115 FW Bahrudin Atajić Žalgiris 1088 156 FW Tadas Labukas Trakai / Atlantas 1947 279 Updated to games played on 19 November 2017

Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref Andrei Panyukov Atlantas Stumbras 4–1 (H) 15 March 2017 [44] Darvydas Šernas Žalgiris Stumbras 3–1 (A) 12 April 2017 [45] Darvydas Šernas Žalgiris Sūduva 3–1 (H) 19 April 2017 [46] Maksim Maksimov Trakai Utenis 3–0 (H) 21 June 2017 [47] Josip Tadić Sūduva Kauno Žalgiris 5–1 (A) 14 October 2017 [48]

Attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Sūduva	18,506	4,489	300	1,089	+40.3%†
2	Žalgiris	12,200	1,750	200	718	−8.9%†
3	Utenis	7,245	1,100	92	453	+27.6%†
4	Atlantas	7,100	1,300	200	444	−27.9%†
5	Jonava	5,350	550	120	335	−31.9%†
6	Trakai	4,630	1,000	75	273	+10.1%†
7	Stumbras	2,880	420	70	206	−38.1%†
8	Kauno Žalgiris	2,300	300	70	177	−47.8%†
	League total	60,211	4,489	70	478	−4.6%†

Source: A Lyga, LFF

^  — Official attendance statistic from one of the Kauno Žalgiris matches was not publicly released.

Awards

Yearly awards

Awards were presented at the LFF Awards ceremony, which was held on December 4. Finalists for voted awards were announced after the season and winners were presented at the award ceremony.^[49]

2017 A Lyga awards

Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Karolis Laukžemis (Sūduva)
Young Player of the Year	Oscar Dorley (Trakai)
Manager of the Year	Vladimir Cheburin (Sūduva)
Golden Boot	Darvydas Šernas (Žalgiris)

Quarterly awards

Player of the Round Period Player Rf First Round (1–7) Andrei Panyukov (Atlantas) [50] Second Round (8–14) Oscar Dorley (Trakai) [51] Third Round (15–21) Darvydas Šernas (Žalgiris) [52] Fourth Round (22–28) Wasn't announced

Coach of the Round Period Coach Rf First Round (1–7) Valdas Dambrauskas (Žalgiris) [50] Second Round (8–14) Oleg Vasilenko (Trakai) [51][53] Third Round (15–21) Oleg Vasilenko (Trakai) [52] Fourth Round (22–28) Wasn't announced

"Golden Heart" initiative

From 2016 season A lyga together with Lithuanian Football Federation decided to expand project "Bring you hearts to the stadium" and honor players who played 10 or more times for the Lithuania national team with golden heart on their shirts.^[54][55]

In 2017 season following players have had this evaluation:

• Žalgiris  — Egidijus Vaitkūnas,^[54] Saulius Mikoliūnas,^[56] Vytautas Lukša,^[56] Mantas Kuklys,^[56] Darvydas Šernas,^[57] Georgas Freidgeimas,^[57] Linas Klimavičius^[57]
• Trakai  — Deividas Česnauskis,^[54] Valdemaras Borovskis,^[54] Arūnas Klimavičius^[58]
• Atlantas  — Linas Pilibaitis,^{[56][note 2]} Tadas Labukas^{[59][note 3]}
• Sūduva  — Vaidas Slavickas^[60]
• Utenis  — Pavelas Leusas^{[61][note 2]}
• Kauno Žalgiris  — Ignas Dedura^[62]

Furthermore, Karolis Chvedukas was eligible to receive his "Heart" during the season, as he met qualification criterios.^[55]

Notes

1. Stadium location
2. Player left the club in the middle of the season.
3. Labukas also played for Trakai during the season.

See also

Competitions 2017 Lithuanian Supercup 2017 LFF I Lyga 2017 Lithuanian Football Cup

Team seasons 2017 FK Žalgiris season